NAMI Michigan

In partnership with the Recovery Council, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) continues to move forward in strengthening services and supports for persons with serious mental illness and co-occurring disorders.  We are pleased to release the final document of the Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) statewide report. 

As part of the ongoing process of strengthening recovery principles and practices, while building on the vision, mission and values of the Recovery Council, a recommendation was made to MDCH requesting the implementation of a quality improvement process based on a statewide evaluation of recovery for adults with serous mental illness.  Through a consensus building process, the Recovery Enhancing Environment (REE) measure was selected based on the unique characteristic of the instrument in evaluating both individual and organizational outcomes.  

The REE was administered to 6,146 adults with serious mental illness.  The success of the project was a major accomplishment requiring the coordinated efforts of hundreds of staff, peer surveyors, contractors and survey participants.  In addition to the hard work and efforts of individuals in the state, data collection and analysis was completed by Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) who partnered with the department and Council on both the design and implementation of the REE. 

As part of the quality improvement process, each Community Mental Health Service Program (CMHSP) received a copy of individual agency results which included provider networks where applicable.  In addition, results for the region were sent to the Pre-paid Inpatient Health Plan (PIHP) Directors to include in strategic planning efforts as part of the Application for Renewal and Recommitment (ARR). 

The intended goals and outcomes of the REE were developed by a large group of stakeholders many of whom received public mental health services.  Some of the goals included educating consumers and providers about recovery; encouraging an orientation to recovery in individual and systems planning; assessing the extent to which recovery enhancing elements are incorporated into current practice; assessing consumer needs to facilitate their movement toward recovery; providing summary data based upon REE survey results to local communities and supporting the Quality Improvement process for transforming the system toward a recovery orientation.  Each of the goals were met and/or exceeded demonstrating a successful process that required collaborative efforts across the state.